(extracts from September 1998)
ERICSSON SELF MANAGED LEARNING PROGRAMME |
‘AN SML APPROACH TO COACHING’ |
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Just over a year ago, a group of managers in Ericssons’s Public Systems operation embarked on a journey that started with strategic learning contracts and developed into working in sets (see Newsletter No 9 : August 1997). The programme was seen as so successful that an SML programme was launched for all staff within the division. Still driven by the line managers (particularly Rob Lines), and now supported by the Learning Solutions team within Ericsson, approximately 60 people attended a start-up event in May and are now up and running as learning sets. Sets are made up of individuals from different departments and across all levels from graduate engineers through to departmental managers. Most sets have an external set adviser (Ben Bennett, Ian Cunningham, Graham Dawes and Anne Gimson) and will be working together until January 1999. Rob has obtained some interim views about the programme through questionnaires and focus groups which has been very positive from 95% of participants. We will hopefully be able to share this feedback with you in a future Newsletter (perhaps, Rob, you would like to pen a few lines?). On the basis of this feedback, Rob is looking to get a further group of up to 30 people going in October. Fifteen people had already indicated their interest at the last start-up and have been on a ‘waiting list’ since then! If anyone would like further information about the programme, please contact Anne Gimson. |
This workshop, attended by twelve network members in April, was led by Ben Bennett and Graham Dawes at the University of North London Business School. Coaching skills are becoming increasingly important in business today, and a pack developed by Graham, Ben and Ian Cunningham "Exercises for Developing Coaching Capability" has recently been published by the Institute of Personnel and Development. Graham and Ben led a discussion on coaching and what it meant to the group and we all saw parallels to SML in the definition "assisting the leaner in their own learning", as a set member of adviser might assist. We discussed a learning frame, with 3 levels - engaging in action, reflecting on learning activity and reflecting on learning approaches. We then looked at what active learners do:
After exploring some coaching strategies, we had the opportunity to participate in two of the excellent exercises from the pack and share our experiences of these as a group. We all felt that we had gained a greater understanding of the coaching process and had learnt something that we could take away to use in assisting people to develop their capability. |
